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Best Newcomer Article The design of policy tools reveals underlying biases that are not easily identified in policy documents. A review of two early childhood education and care subsidies in Ireland aimed at different target populations exposes differential treatment of children, parents and service providers. It also demonstrates how in a split system ‘early education’ is prioritised over ‘childcare’. The designs serve to reinforce stereotypes that enable the powerful and advantaged to accrue benefits while those perceived to be less deserving are burdened through the maldistribution of resources.

Decision making through a web-based tool is a complex challenge. Research projects are generally not designed to meet the information needs of specific stakeholder groups. Furthermore, tools developed in these projects are usually intended to disseminate research data on a wide scale, not to provide answers to specific questions of these stakeholders. User-centered design techniques can guide the development process of such tools, to enhance their usefulness and thus the applicability of the research outcomes for the intended audience. We applied techniques for user requirements analysis of the Impacts Explorer tool in the AgMIP research project, which models the impacts of climate change on agricultural systems with a focus on farmers’ income and food security. The objective of the Impacts Explorer is to support users in different continents, with different requirements and levels of knowledge, in developing adaptation plans in agricultural management.This paper discusses the approach we followed for the user requirements analysis and evaluates the effectiveness of the techniques and lessons learnt. We conclude with recommendations for implementing this approach in the development of similar tools.

Farming in Europe is constantly changing as environmental concerns have increasingly been taken into account since the mid 1980s and emphasis has been put on agri-environmental matters throughout all European countries. For instance, in Wallonia (Belgium), as a result of the provisions of the Government Decree on agri-environmental measures, farmers are increasingly encouraged to adopt environmentally friendly practices such as the creation of grassy headlands in their fields. As European agriculture is changing, tools are needed to monitor the evolution of agricultural practices, to control policy application and to advise farmers. In this framework, we present a new approach to optimise the establishment of grassy headlands in cultivated fields. Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), we identify exact locations where farmers can introduce grassy headlands in accordance with legal specifications and environmental concerns and calculate the total length of grassy headland that farmers can establish considering the features of their farm and parcels and for which they can receive subsidies. It indicates a potential, which could serve as a calculation baseline for an indicator. Wallonia was chosen as study area because a digitised parcel plan has been available from the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) since 1997. The methodological approach proposes a new valorisation of this spatial information layer and can be considered as an example of application providing relevant information for several intervention levels: national or regional decision-makers, advisors and individual farmers. Since all EU Member States had to set up their own GIS-based land parcel system starting in 2005, our approach may be useful as is or in similar applications in other countries. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The notion of social innovation is particularly appealing in light of the difficulties facing traditional welfare systems and, more broadly, a development model essentially based on only two actors (the market and the state) that is finding it increasingly difficult to meet the growing and diversified needs of society. We will present findings and conclusions of the EU FP7 project WILCO - Welfare Innovations at Local Levels in Favour of Cohesion which have looked into the missing link between innovations at the local level and their successful transfer and implementation to other settings. In conclusion, we will discuss the potential contribution of social innovations as a new policy tool to strengthening social cohesion in Europe

Blog conférence : http://blogs.sciences-po.fr/recherche-recomposition-etat/2010/12/13/colloque-les-instruments-daction-publique-mise-en-discussion-theorique-6-8-janvier-2011/; This article explores the link between policy instrumentation and policy change at the EU level. It is based upon a comparative analysis of policy instruments, and their evolution, in the European urban and environmental policies. The analysis derives from on original dataset, it examines the evolution of European policy instruments in both policy domains, over the past three decades, and considers how and by whom they were chosen and combined. Challenging the existing literature on new policy instruments and EU new forms of governance, our longitudinal analysis argues that the attention traditionally devoted to new or innovative policy instruments only offers a limited explanatory capacity. This approach suggests that the politics of choice and combination of policy instruments reveals how and the extent to which policy instruments have structured EU policy and policy-making.; Dans quelle mesure l'analyse des formes d'instrumentation, c'est-à-dire du choix et de la combinaison d'instruments, explique-t-elle l'émergence et le développement d'une action publique autonome ? L'entrée par les instruments apporte-elle un éclairage fécond sur l'évolution des formes de pilotage de l'action publique privilégiées au sein de l'Union européenne ? A partir d'une analyse comparée et systématique des instruments des politiques européennes environnementales et urbaines entre 1972 et 2006, cet article s'interroge sur la relation entre les formes d'instrumentation de l'action publique européenne et la gouvernance de l'Union européenne. A travers l'analyse de deux cas contrastés, ce papier montre dans quelle mesure, à travers quels mécanismes et avec quels effets, les instruments ont structuré les transformations de l'action publique européenne sur la moyenne durée.

This article explores the link between policy instrumentation and policy change at the EU level. It is based upon a comparative analysis of policy instruments, and their evolution, in the European urban and environmental policies. The analysis derives from on original dataset, it examines the evolution of European policy instruments in both policy domains, over the past three decades, and considers how and by whom they were chosen and combined. Challenging the existing literature on new policy instruments and EU new forms of governance, our longitudinal analysis argues that the attention traditionally devoted to new or innovative policy instruments only offers a limited explanatory capacity. This approach suggests that the politics of choice and combination of policy instruments reveals how and the extent to which policy instruments have structured EU policy and policy-making., Dans quelle mesure l'analyse des formes d'instrumentation, c'est-à-dire du choix et de la combinaison d'instruments, explique-t-elle l'émergence et le développement d'une action publique autonome ? L'entrée par les instruments apporte-elle un éclairage fécond sur l'évolution des formes de pilotage de l'action publique privilégiées au sein de l'Union européenne ? A partir d'une analyse comparée et systématique des instruments des politiques européennes environnementales et urbaines entre 1972 et 2006, cet article s'interroge sur la relation entre les formes d'instrumentation de l'action publique européenne et la gouvernance de l'Union européenne. A travers l'analyse de deux cas contrastés, ce papier montre dans quelle mesure, à travers quels mécanismes et avec quels effets, les instruments ont structuré les transformations de l'action publique européenne sur la moyenne durée.

- The focus of this paper is a new and applicable environmental rating tool, called Ecoscore. This environmental impact methodology was developed for the Flemish government (Belgium) as a policy tool and to stimulate the use of cleaner road vehicles. The Ecoscore is based on a well-to-wheel approach and integrates different aspects of the environmental impact of cars into a single indicator. This methodology allows comparing vehicles with different fuels (petrol, diesel, LPG, CNG etc.) or vehicles with different drive trains (internal combustion, battery or hybrid electric etc.). The Ecoscore methodology combines various damage categories like: global warming, human health impairing effects and harmful effects on ecosystems and is based on the level of emissions into the air of several harmful pollutants. Further, this methodology is not only applicable on passenger but also on heavy duty vehicles (trucks, buses etc.), alternative vehicles and even on two-wheelers. The applicability of the Ecoscore methodology is demonstrated by comparing and ranking a selection of old and new passenger vehicles (both conventional cars and alternative cars) and a set of urban buses as well. Also, conventional and alternative vehicles are compared. Finally, the evolution in time of the environmental performance of vehicles due to the more stringent directives concerning type-approval is evaluated. It can be concluded that the Ecoscore enables a transparent assessment of the impact on the environment of individual road vehicles and allows a ranking of different vehicles and technologies.

Since the nineteenth century, food toxicology has evolved in several ways. The analytical power of the food toxicologist has been increased. The concept of adulterated food was modified significantly. Most commodities are now processed and addition of numerous non-nutrient additives is legalised. Other "alien" compounds get introduced in the food chain from background contamination or during processing and distribution. This makes the task of the food toxicologist more complex. From forensic science food toxicology developed to a policy aid., Od 19. stoljeća do današnjih dana toksikologija hrane razvijala se u nekoliko pravaca. Osobe koje raspolažu znanjima o analitičkim postupcima za određivanje toksičnih sastojaka u hrani dobivaju veliko značenje, čime je znatno umanjena mogućnost dodavanja nepoželjnih i nedeklariranih sastojaka u hranu. Većina artikala proizvodi se posebnim procesiranjem uz dodavanje brojnih ne-nutritivnih dodataka, koji imaju dozvolu uporabe. Mnogi "strani" spojevi ušli su u hranidbene lance iz onečišćenog okoliša ili pak za vrijeme prerade i distribucije. Nova saznanja dovode do znatno veće odgovornosti toksikologa pri određivanju zdravstvene ispravnosti hrane. Toksikologija hrane obuhvaća područje od sudske medicine do novih zakonskih propisa.

Decision making through a web-based tool is a complex challenge. Research projects are generally not designed to meet the information needs of specific stakeholder groups. Furthermore, tools developed in these projects are usually intended to disseminate research data on a wide scale, not to provide answers to specific questions of these stakeholders. User-centered design techniques can guide the development process of such tools, to enhance their usefulness and thus the applicability of the research outcomes for the intended audience. We applied techniques for user requirements analysis of the Impacts Explorer tool in the AgMIP research project, which models the impacts of climate change on agricultural systems with a focus on farmers’ income and food security. The objective of the Impacts Explorer is to support users in different continents, with different requirements and levels of knowledge, in developing adaptation plans in agricultural management.This paper discusses the approach we followed for the user requirements analysis and evaluates the effectiveness of the techniques and lessons learnt. We conclude with recommendations for implementing this approach in the development of similar tools.